. >> so, i ask -- >> reporter: in this north korean videotape, captive american tourist merrill newman is seen for the first time in nearly five weeks. reading from an awkwardly phrased text, newman, an 85-year-old retired finance executive from california, appears to be apologizing for what he calls hostile acts against the communist north korean. >> that in u.s. and western countries, there is misleading information and propaganda about dprk. >> reporter: newman had been an infantry officer in the korean war, a soldier, like the troops them moralized here. his friends and family said a lifelong dream had been to return to the land where he fought as a young man, this time, on a sightseeing tour. soldiers who fought alongside newman told the news agency reuters that half a century ago he helped coordinate some of the most daring missions of the korean war -- a conflict the north koreans still see as ongoing, since no peace treaty was ever signed. newman was about to return home, when a government official took him off a plane without explanation. the united states has no official dipl